Women's Basketball

UC Women Tested in Win Over A-B
January 29, 2006

Courtesy of The Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail

Two days after knocking off Glenville State on the road, the University of Charleston had to battle to beat the lightly regarded Battlers of Alderson-Broaddus 85-73 at Philippi in West Virginia Conference women’s basketball Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Eagles (18-1, 10-0 West Virginia Conference) had to overcome A-B’s torrid shooting. The Battlers (1-14, 1-8) hit 56.8 percent from the floor, 50 percent from 3-point range and 81.3 percent from the line.

Still, A-B managed only a tie at halftime. UC, which shot well itself and bullied the Battlers on the boards, took a 10-point lead early in the second half and led by six or so much of the rest of the way. Finally, the Eagles pulled away in the final two minutes.

"They played a great game, to their credit," UC coach Sherry Winn said of A-B. "In the first half, they pretty much dictated to how they were going to play offensively.

"When you get so emotionally high for a game [against Glenville] and prepare for days, it’s hard to turn around and get up for a game like this. And we were flat."

Courtney Thomas led the Eagles with 19 points, while Rachel Pike had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Erica McElroy had 12 points and seven assists. Lisa Lee added 12 and Emily Jones scored 11.

A-B also had five double-figure scorers — then again, the Battlers only played six players. Kim Nakamura led all scorers with 28 points, followed by Tiffany Thompson with 12, Tia Lafferty 11, Sonya Jones 10 and Kara Newton 10.

UC had an enormous 43-18 advantage in rebounding, including a 23-1 dominance on the offensive boards. The Eagles’ defense also was able to slow down the Battlers, who shot 62.5 percent in the first half.

"We ran a scramble defense, did some random trapping, got them out of their offense," Winn said. "That got us some turnovers and fastbreak layups, and got us back on track."